Summer Switch

Apparently someone found the switch to turn on Summer. On Friday last week I was still wearing my guilty coat and rainboots, it was raining and under 10°C. Then BAM! on Monday it was sunny all day (which currently lasts 18.5 hours) and 31°C! I’m not complaining, though! Together with the weather the plants changed:

Suddenly the Grass is Green!

This is a house close to the city center. I love how it contrasts with the green! And green there is plenty to be had:

Juicy Green!

It’s so nice to see this colour after the long grey and brown period we had. But that’s not all, there are even some trees in bloom:

Flowers!

Aaaah, if it stays this way, I am extremely happy to be here this Summer. But let’s not get my hopes up too high, on Tuesday it’s supposed to get to 10°C again. 😦 But until then I’m enjoying with all my might! Today we’ll have a BBQ, and I prepared some traditional Swiss BBQ side: potatoe salad! It’s not a BBQ if there’s no potatoe salad (even if the Finns don’t seem to be aware of this fact).

Potatoes Salad – Closeup

Preparing this is easy, if a bit time consuming. Basically you boil, peel and slice the potatoes, add broth, mayonese, mustard, spring onions, white vinegar (I use wine vinegar) and salt (if needed), mix well and let stand for a while to let the flavours get absorbed into the potatoes. Yum!

Sorry, gotta run, there’s a tomatoe salad still to be made!

P.S: my outfit is self-made, will blog later.

(Twinkly)Lights In The Darkness

The Jolly Season Is Upon Us!

Of course I have been complaining about the cold for way too long now. BUT! here are some things I actually like about this season of ever receding light. For one, the twinkly lights are out, and because it’s dark for most of the day, you can actually enjoy them longer! As you can see above, Jyväskylä isn’t really dark at “night” (this was taken at 3.30pm). Indeed it boasts being the “City of Lights“. Apart from the city center, there are many other areas that are illuminated, such as the “never-ending-bridge”:

Never Ending Bridge by Night

Or then, this organic looking sculpture in front of the natural science campus:

Illuminated Sculpture

I quite like that there is light beyond necessity. It kind of makes the city feel friendlier, but also kind of futuristic. There are many installations I haven’t discovered yet. Knowing that helps me keep an open eye for my surroundings, which is something that makes me appreciate them more. Yes, even in winter. Speaking of which: It has arrived! It was fairly warm for November (which means around 5˚C) and raining. So it was dark at night, and grey during the day. But then it finally snowed! One year ago I couldn’t quite understand the Finnish enthusiasm for snow. But having spent two Autumns here, I now understand what a difference the snow makes. Snow means that the light of the street lamps is reflected, and it is suddenly a lot brighter. Plus, there are other advantages, as I have pointed out before. This year, it’s still a lot warmer than last year, so we get the dreaded melting and freezing. As a (unokwn to me) Finn said on facebook: “You don’t know what fear is before you have been out today.” Pure ice, disguised by some freshly fallen snow.

But for me this is already over, I’m currently sitting in sunny and relatively warm Rome, waiting for the airplane to go to Switzerland.  However, I wanted to show you the beautiful lights of Jyväskylä before Christmas. Have happy holidays, if you celebrate them, otherwise:

Happy Solstice!

Being Back Home

It’s been a bit quiet here lately (except for the tribute to Voyager). This is largely due to an exam I had to study for. With that out of the way (I passed), I’m now back.  While I didn’t blog, I did sew, but that’s for another post. Right now, I thought I’d show a bit more of my (not so new anymore) home. First of all, I got some lovely gifts from friends and family in Italy and Switzerland:

Today Is Super! – Thank you again Seraina!

The book I got from a dear friend in Switzerland. It’s a diary with many cheerful and happy suggestions of what to do with your day and then record it. I just love the positive attitude, not to mention the stickers! I also got a colourful notebook with inspirational quotes from a dear friend from Spain, but forgot to take a picture, as it resides in my purse. Thanks Esti!

In the picture above you can also see these weird jewelery-like pendants. These are glass markers so you don’t accidently take someone else’s drink, themselves made of fused glass. Aren’t they fabulous? My mum gave them to me after she found them in one of my Granddad’s cupboards. My Grandma must have bought or gotten them when they set up home in the 1950’s.

This next one is from PB’s mother:

Does This Look Familiar?

When I saw this motto in a coffee shop on O’ahu I felt that it describes my morning attitude quite adequately. I asked the owner if they sold it, but they didn’t. So it was a very nice surprise when I saw this hanging in our room in PB’s parent’s house! I feel very welcomed by PB’s family, especially because they know of my not so nice sides and still (miraculously) seem to like me. So grazie mille Maria!

I had briefly mentioned before leaving for the summer holidays that my Mamma had been to Ikea with me. Here’s some of our loot:

We Now Have a Kitchen Table!

Somehow the kitchen didn’t feel complete. But now with a table and chairs it feels like a place I can spend time with people while cooking. And that makes it a perfect kitchen. The other item I want to show is in the bathroom, which is still far from being perfect. But here goes:

A Towel Shelf! How Exciting (not)!

So that’s the apartment part of the renewed tour of the place I now consider home. What I also want to show, is the city itself. Now, that’s not so easy, as it’s more like separate and quite diverse neighbourhoods dotted among the woods. I’ve already showed the woods, so here are some impressions of the city parts I most visit:

Keskusta – The city center

This is the view on the main shopping street (foto taken a few weeks ago when it was still warm). I like how lively it is on sunny days. In that respect the Finns and the Swiss are the same: as soon as there is a beam of sun, everybody heads out, as you never know how long it will last. What I also like about the city center is that all the shopping happens inside malls. Why I like that? Simple: I just don’t get tempted to shop! So I get less unneccesary stuff and also waste less time organising and cleaning it at home. Win!

Next up, the “piazza” in front of the supermarket we shop at most often:

K- and S-Markets – Always neighbours

Functional is what is needed in this context, not beauty. I am, however, amazed that you would put this huge space in front of a supermarket (it’s not a parking lot). But that’s probably my Swiss self that is used to the lack of horizontal space. It feels nice to have so much breathing space. Usually, if there aren’t any houses, there are trees. So from far away the neighbourhoods look like this:

Our Neighbourhood – seen from opposite the lake

Today it has started snowing.  However, the ground is not cold yet, as up to Friday we had around 15°-17°C. So I guess we’re in for a cold yet slushy Autumn. Argh! But let’s hope I’m wrong. Let’s hope it will turn out like last year:

Sunny And Colourful!